'I'm sorry. Rules are rules': Malaysia's shot put winner loses gold medal at Paralympics for arriving late

Malaysia's shot putter Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli (Twitter/bayuarisandee)

In a rare event, a para athlete lost his gold medal after arriving late for the competition. Malaysia's Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli, who had won a gold medal in men's shot put finals F20 class at the Tokyo Paralympics, was disqualified because he reported "three minutes late" for his event.

The International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence said Zolkefli and two others were initially allowed to compete under protest after failing to report on time for the event. 

ZIYAD ZOLKEFLI ANOTHER WORLD RECORD BREAKER !!!!!! 17.94M !!!!! #MAS #Paralympics #KamiLuarBiasa pic.twitter.com/zmyAUejqa7 — Haziqah Mustafar  (@ieka93) August 31, 2021

"They were late, they may have had a logical reason for being late, and therefore we allowed them to compete and look at the facts of the matter afterward," Spence was quoted as saying by news agency AP.

The World Para Athletics body, which governs track and field for Para sports, stated that it was determined by a referee after the competition that the reasons made by the participating members was "no justifiable reason for failure to report" on time. The body confirmed that the appeal made by Malaysia was also turned down.

Following the development, Ukraine's Maksym Koval now stands at top and is joined by countrymen Oleksandr Yarovyi in the second spot. Meanwhile, the bronze medal was won by Efstratios Nikolaidis of Greece.

Malaysia not impressed by the decision

The decision was met with a lot of anger in Malaysia as Spence described the reaction as "very abusive", which he also claimed were targeted at the Ukrainians. 

Since I care a lot about ASEAN COUNTRY let’s go!!

Remember HIS name Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli from Malaysia  BROKE THE WORLD RECORD SHOT PUT MENS F20 #Paralympics and winning Gold Medal  no other even not Ukraine.
pic.twitter.com/ad9V4p4pEm — Bayu Arisandy (@bayuarisandee) August 31, 2021

Azizulhasni Awang was denied gold because of a 'sabotage'. Ziyad Zolkefli was denied gold because some athletes protested after the event has finished.

Another robbery for Malaysia. @Tokyo2020, Malaysians will never forgive you!  —  (@paanized) August 31, 2021

"We are now seeing comments on all our social media posts that have nothing to do with the men's shot put F20 event," Spence was further quoted as saying in the report. "I'm sorry. Rules are rules." 

"The decision was taken. It wasn't the Ukrainians fault that the Malaysian was late," he added.

Not a harsh decision 

Spence believes the decision not to be a harsh one explaining others arrive five minutes before the event but Zolkefli and others were three minute late. "Others get there five minutes early," he said.

When asked about the delay, the Malaysian and the other two stated that they "didn't hear the announcement or it was in a language" they don't understand. The F20 class in shot put is for athletes with intellectual disabilities.